Windows Server (2003/2008) as a development machine?

Question

I was wondering how many people use Windows Server 2008 (or w2k3) as their development machine. If so, what are the pros / cons? If you do not, do you see any benefits to this?

I read a lot of jokes on the Internet stating that it is a more stable development environment than Vista SP1, and some tuning tips here on SO . I just bought a new machine (2 Xeons quad-core processors, 16 GB of memory), and I'm trying to decide if I should go with a 2008 or Vista Ultimate x64 server (I have licenses for both OSs).

Answer 1

We have just taken the path of Windows Server 2008 as local development workstations, with the same characteristics as you, and its improvement.

The main reason is 64-bit and 16-GB RAM - this allows us to use HyperV to enable local virtual machines that run anything from Windows XP to Windows Server 2008 itself, which allows developers to maintain their own local environments from scratch, not disturbing infrastructure administrators.

Server 2008 has less overhead than Vista, but it allows you to do the development you need.

Answer 2

It depends on what you do. If you write programs that will be executed mainly on the server (web pages, working with databases, etc.), I will use the Windows server. If you will write programs that will work mainly on the desktop or on the workstation, I would choose Vista.

In any case, you might consider running another in a virtual machine. Your new system, of course, has enough bars to support this, and otherwise your additional license will be a waste.

Answer 3

The only thing I know due to the fact that this is of great importance is what you develop for goals that require you to build a server OS. - SharePoint is the only one I'm 100% sure of. Of course, using the hardware you have, I would say that I am using Server 2008 as the base OS, and then I configured the virtual machines for any other OS you want to develop.

Answer 4

I use Vista Business x64 as my primary operating system, and then use VMWare to create virtual machines as a development environment. My main development goal at the moment is SharePoint 2007 due to dependency on Microsoft.Sharepoint.dll and subsequently Windows 2003/2008.

Using Vista as the base operating system gives me the flexibility to run multiple development environments on the same field and switch between them as needed. You can also easily use Windows 2008 and Hyper-V to get the same benefits.

Answer 5

I do. However, we do not have the advantages of VMWare or Virtual PC here. I had a bit of trouble setting up at times, making sure the correct video drivers and sound drivers were loaded, but apart from that I had no problems. The advantage is that you develop the target environment in which your code is deployed. I don’t see how any developer can really know what happens to their code if they don’t have an emulator or it doesn’t start as a development operating system.

I cannot vouch for 2008 and Vista, but I can say that IIS running on XP vs 2k03 is different, and these differences may overturn you when developing IIS / ASP.Net. I talk about how IIS works on 2k03 (several websites, etc.), because people run IIS on XP, which does not have some parameters. I can’t think of a time when something that I wrote in XP does not work on 2k03, but many times I saw people try to do something difficult because they really don’t understand how IIS works on 2k03 . It can be said that this can be overcome with a better understanding of IIS, but having it as a development environment will make you take a look at this to begin to understand it. On the side, the note too, having it as a development environment, simplifies the creation of SharePoint Web Parts.

Answer 6

I have been using Windows Server 2003 R2 as my development machine for almost 3 years now and I like it. With themes enabled, I can also get full experience with Windows XP for desktop development.

Answer 7

I prefer the Windows server because of the fact 1) I mainly work on web development 2) IIS 6+ allows you to create several sites that are great help, instead of using the same default site and renaming or creating VDirs. 3) I can have queues / Smtp / ftp-server working locally for testing.

Answer 8

Yeps. A server is the way to go if you are engaged in web development (well, who is doing more than anything now :)) A server in a virtual environment gives you a separate development environment. In addition, you can share your image with your teammate so that you all work just like the environment.

Answer 9

As someone who launches all three, I would say go with 2008 if you are not going to play the game. Vista, if you run a lot of games (or dual boot). I like 2008 itself, 2003, when the workstation was a pain, 2008 is much more pleasant.